Improvement in sheep-shears



UNrrED 'S'rA'rEs Pararrr @retiree JAMES A. STRONG, OF NORTH VOLOO'IT, VERMONT.

IMPROVEMENT IN SH EEP-SH EAI-2S.V

Specification forming part ofLcttcrs Patent No. 58,695, dated Octobcr 9, 1366; antedatcd September 30, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JAMES A. STRONG, of North Wolcott, of the county of Lamoille and State of Vermont, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sheep-Shears; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

In the use of sheepshears good shearers place the thumb ou the back of the upper blade and the foreiin ger under the back of the under blade. In this position of the hand the sheep or other animal can be sheared with great nicety; but sheep-shears as heretofore constructed have been difficult to hold in this manner by reason of the narrow backs of the blades. They are also a subject of difficulty, in consequence of the hand slipping forward toward the points of the shears after the blades become oily, so that it loses its bearing upon the handles and grasps largely or altogether upon the narrow and angular backs of the blades. y

The object of my invention is to afford more convenient holding-places than heretofore at the backs of the blades and to prevent the hand slipping forward beyond the extent desired, and to do this without affecting seriouslyT the labor or expense of their manufacture.

The first part of the invention consists in widening the backs of the blades at the points where the thumb and forenger apply, in the manner shown. The widening of the backs of one or both blades may be distributed, putting a part on the one side or face of the blade and a part on the other, if preferred; but it is better for some reasons to place it all on one side, as shown.

The second part consists in swelling or turning up the forward end of the part on which the thumb rest-s, so as better to prevent the hand from slipping forward.

I will now describe minutcly what I consider the best mode of carrying out my inven tion.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification, and represent a standard kind of sheep-shears in different positions, constructed according to this invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective or nearly an edge view; and Fig. 2 shows the face or the side presented toward the hide of the animal of one of the ordinary forms of cast-steel sheep-shears with this invention applied. Fig. 3 shows theV opposite face or that visible to the eye when at work. Fig. 4 is a cross-section ofthe latter on the line S S; Fig. 5, saine on the line T T, and Fig. 6 same on the line U U. Fig. 7 is a cross-section showing such a construction, with a modification which allows the thumbpiece to be adjusted in various positions. Fig. S indicates one of the modes of manufacturing the thumb-piece when in a fixed position, the same being first forged as a thin extension of the blade backward, and afterward bent over and properly curved.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts in all the figures.

The handles and springs, as also the cutting portions and main surfaces of the blades, may be as usual, the invention being applicable to the several principal varieties of shears in which the spring U or its equivalent is used,.

and which cut by the direct pressure of the hand, whether for the purpose of shearing animals or of shearing lawns, &c.

The upper blade is marked A, the lower blade B, and the respective handles a and b. The spring-connection is marked O. The faces of each blade presented toward the surface to be sheared will be designated by the numeral 1, and the faces presented to the eye while shearing by the numeral 2.

The face l of the blade A is provided with a broad ledge or fian ge at its back, indicated by A. This is forged or cast or otherwise firmly fixed thereon, and is raised or extended backward, as shown by Its back is holA lowed, and is roughened by cross-grooves in the same fashion as the cock of a gun or pistol. The opposite face, 2, of the blade Ais left plane, as usual, in order that it may be easily finished by grinding and polishing, as usual, because the edge of the other blade, B, is required to traverse nearly across the whole breadth of this blade.

A flange corresponding to the flange described on the opposite side of this blade may be raised on the face 2, if preferred, in which case the thumb-piece A may be considered as distributed and placed partly on one face and partly on the other face of the blade A; but

in such case care lnust be taken to properly.

swage or otherwise sink the surface. of the blade on the part of the face 2 adjacent to the ange, otherwise it may be necessary to carefully nish the surface by means other and e sacos more expensive than the ordinary grinding and polishing wheels.

The face 1 ofthe other blade, B, may be left plane, and finished by grinding` over its Whole surface, as usual, or it may be flanged, as will be presently described; but it is better to have it plane, for the reasons given above in speaking of the other blade.

The face 2 of the blade B is provided with a broad ledge or flange at its back, as shown by B. This flange is not roughened, neither is it turned up or swelled at its front, but it is rounded to correspond with the rounded surface of the handle l, of which it forms in effect a continuation, and mayy be finished in the saine manner.

The forenger of the operator .rests on the flange B', While the thumb rests on the flange A", and by the superior hold thereby afforded the. shears are very perfectly and easily controlled, however oily they may become.

Either of the flanges above described may be used with some success Without the other, and the iiange Al may be used with some success without the turned-up front A* and Without the cross-grooves or othermeans of roughching` the surface; but the Whole in combination as above described is preferable.

It should be remembered that, in order to aid i finding the best position of the thumbpiece, a thumb-piece having the form represented may be adapted to blades of the ordinary form and secured by a screw or by two or more screws passing through a slot or slots in the blade, so that by slackening the screws the thumb-piece may be adjusted in position. Sheep-shears so constructed may be used. in. practice, if preferred, and adjusted according to the fancy or the previously-acquired. habt of the shearer.

Having now fully described the said invenpurpose specified.

J AMES A. STRONG. Witnesses:

L.. D. STRONG, 0. H. RANDALL. 

